A 9th inning wild pitch and rbi triple from RF Jeff Francoeur helped the NY Mets defeat the Houston Astros Monday night in Texas. Pre game, the Mets learned closer Francisco”K Rod” Rodriquez will miss the remainder of the season with a torn thumb ligament in his pitching hand, reportedly the injury was sustained in the fight with his girlfriend’s father at Citi Field last week. CF Carlos Beltran hit his 2nd homer of the season while LH Hisanori Takahashi pitched a perfect 9th for his first career save. The win puts NY to 59-59 on the season and the Mets improve to 23-37 away from Citi Field.
LH Jon Niese(7-5,3.38) was again very good for NY, tossing 7 innings of 1 run ball. Over his last three starts, he has pitched 21 innings while allowing 3 earned runs. Only red hot Astros 3B Chris Johnson’s(.406 in 96 post all-star at bats) 8th inning rbi double dented the rookie southpaw. NY hardly brought the whopping sticks tonight vs. Houston LH Wandy Rodriquez(9-11,4.04) , who allowed only 4 hits over 7 innings. The Mets lone run vs the Astros starter was on Beltran’s(2 hits, 2 runs) 4th inning blast. 3B David Wright almost doubled his hits for the Month of August(5 pre game) going 3 for 4 with a run.
NY rallied vs ex Met Matt Lindstrom in the 9th, taking the game. With one out, Wright and Beltran singled back to back with David taking third. That became a huge play as Lindstrom tossed a wild pitch and the Mets Third Baseman sprinted home to make it 2-1. Francoeur then tripled to center, scoring Beltran for a 2 run rally, 3-1. Houston yanked their closer for LH Gustavo Chacin but NY would not score again. Ike Davis pinch hit for Hessman and was intentionally walked. Rookie C Josh Thole then hit into a 1st to home double play to end the inning. Takahashi then tossed a 1-2-3 9th to secure the victory for the Mets.
METS STARTING LINE-UP: SS Jose Reyes, LF Angel Pagan, Wright, Beltran, Francoeur, 1B Mike Hessman, C Henry Blanco, 2B Luis Castillo, Pitcher
UNSUNG HERO: Team has had several players step up in 2010- Pagan and R.A. Dickey leading the way but cannot underestimate the job Takahashi has done for this team. Has pitched in every role and done reasonably well, a tremendous staff saver! Reminds me of Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield of the Boston Red Sox.
GAME NOTES: Mets stole two bases: Wright #17 and 1B Ike Davis #2… Reports have the team picking up Reyes option($11 million) for 2011. Nothing official from either the club or player…. Mets signed #1 draft pick Matt Harvey to deal for slightly more than 2.5 according to SI.com-MLB network and WFAN’s Jon Heyman. The junior right hander was 8-3 with a 3.09 ERA in 14 games for the North Carolina Tar Heels in 2010.. Several publications say the Mets are exploring ways to get out of Rodriquez’ contract. The closer makes 11.5 million in 2010 as well as 2011. If he finishes 55 games in 2011, his vesting option kicks in at 17.5 million for 2012. The team says they will “have more information regarding their course of action tomorrow(Tuesday).”
NEXT GAME:
TUESDAY, Game 2 of 4 vs the Astros at Minute Maid Park in Houston
8:05 pm
Astros RH Nelson Figueroa(1-0,3.18) vs. Mets LH Johan Santana(10-6,2,.89)
